Nashik: Former journalist and BJP spokesperson Prem Shukla Sunday wondered if the Shiv Sena is "hobnobbing" with top Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, whom the party patriarch late Bal Thackeray wanted to oust from politics for "looting" the country.

Addressing reporters here, Shukla, who had served as the editor of the Sena's Hindi tabloid "Dophar Ka Saamana" before joining the BJP in 2016, said the "panchak" or quintet of the leaders also comprised Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra, her husband Robert Vadra and Ahmad Patel, Treasurer of the Congress. Shukla's remarks came amid uncertainty over prospects of an alliance between the Sena and the BJP for upcoming Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly elections, and amid growing perception that the Uddhav Thackeray-led party is going soft on the Congress chief while criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi relentlessly.